Note 36 — Part II

2–12. [In these sections Viana expands this last statement, enumerating the nations who have enriched themselves by the Oriental trade, and the companies formed in each for this purpose. First were the Genovese and Venetians, who traded with India by way of the Red Sea; they were afterward driven out of this trade by the Portuguese, in consequence of the discovery by the latter of the route via Cape of Good Hope. (Section 3.) “Portuguese trading-fleets of thirty ships came to the commerce of India every year, and for Brasil alone sailed fifteen to twenty ships laden with merchandise from India—besides others which carried on trade in China, Japon, Persia, Arabía, Mosambique, Melinda, Sofala, and other regions. But now that commerce is so reduced that only one or, at most, two ships sail from Lisboa yearly, which would not be the case if they had established a company with adequate capital, which is the only way of making commerce lasting.” The Dutch at first bought spices from the Portuguese, and then resold them at a huge profit to the other European nations; but Phelipe II prohibited the spice trade to Portugal, and the Dutch therefore formed a company to operate in the Orient, and trade directly with its peoples. As finally constituted in 1602, this company had (section 6) a capital of 6,600,000 florins (“according to Savary”); and “in less than four years the members received the principal of their shares with the great profits which they obtained.” At the time of Viana’s writing, the Dutch company were maintaining “twelve thousand men, regular troops, in their twenty-five fortresses in India, and were able to equip 30,000 militia in their colonies, especially that of Batavia” (Savary). Viana cites another authority, Samuel Ricard, who places this militia force at 100,000, and states that the company employed in the Eastern trade more than 160 ships, each carrying thirty to sixty cannon, besides forty ships of the line (which number was increased in time of war). This enterprise ruined the commerce of the Portuguese (who had been the first to open the sea-route to India); “from that time until now it has steadily diminished, and is the poorest in all India; this has been the result of their not having formed a company with capital, and with respectable forces to oppose the conquests which the Dutch made. For they had a better opportunity than the latter, and it would have cost them less to maintain a flourishing commerce, as was that which they already possessed, than it cost the Dutch to establish a new commerce by dint of money, conquests, fortifications, and enormous expenses.” The English company (section 8) sent out its first fleet (of four ships) in the year 1600; its capital was 369,891 pounds sterling. After various fluctuations of fortune, it was reëstablished in 1698, and attained great prosperity, so that its capital had increased to 1,703,422 pounds. In Viana’s time, “the ships from Madrast for London (more than fifty in number) carry annual cargoes of five to six million pounds, according to the estimate of Sabary; and, taking into consideration the increase which this commerce has had since he published his famous work, the ‘Universal Dictionary,’ it must by this time be worth some ten millions. This does not include the operations of the private English traders who traffic among the colonies of India; this may be inferred from the duties which they pay in Madrast, which, at the rate of five per cent, produce for the company 80,000 pagodas. This sum amounts to 120,000 or 130,000 pesos, estimating the pagoda at twelve and sometimes thirteen silver reals.” The English company were maintaining in constant operation 150 ships and fragatas, and more than fifty smaller vessels, employed in their commerce between India and London alone; to the great expenses of this navy must be added those of the company’s forts and garrisons in India, which indicate how enormous were their profits. An Englishman told Viana that the king of England was owing to the company more than 36,000,000 pesos, the amount of loans which they had made to the crown in various emergencies. The Oriental commerce of the Dutch was further encroached upon (section 11) by the trading companies formed later in France, Sweden, and Denmark, and proposed in Prussia;36 these were protected and fostered by their respective governments. The commerce of the Dutch “would have been ruined if it were not for their being exclusive owners of the spice trade—of which only the Spaniards are able to deprive them, since we have in these islands cinnamon, pepper, cloves, and nutmeg.” As all those nations maintained forts, garrisons, and war-ships, the necessity of opposing these armaments with like forces has imposed on the Dutch enormous additional expenses. Viana says (section 12): “I know not what reason there can be why that which is so beneficial to all the powers should not, with even greater cause, be an advantage to España, which holds her conquests in peaceable possession, and has valuable products in her dominions; moreover, she has forts and ports which at little cost can be rendered impregnable, and better opportunities than any other nation for a very flourishing commerce. Yet she labors only to enrich her enemies, abandoning to them the commerce which our people are unwilling to carry on, and surrendering to them our treasures and wealth, in exchange for the greater part of the commodities and products which our own lands produce.”]